entrepreneurs

What do you call an innovative person who builds a product out of nothing and launches something that will change people’s lives? Everywhere besides Cuba, you’d call this person an entrepreneur. You’d never expect in the land of communism, censorship and classic cars that you’d find a hotbed of entrepreneurship. Technically, it doesn’t exist. But in my eyes… Read More

The anti-muslim, anti-hispanic and increasingly xenophobic tenor of the debate – especially on the Republican side — is bound to scare smart entrepreneurs from coming to America. Innovation depends on tolerance and openness. Read More

The past 15 months has created a lot of confusion around where the technology sector is going. I’m constantly being asked by entrepreneurs if the timing is right to start a new business and would I invest in these current markets? Yes and yes. Read More

In an otherwise contentious 2016 U.S. presidential election, there will be one issue on which both candidates can agree: Entrepreneurship is good. Entrepreneurs have been embraced by both political parties, along with a wide swath of the American people, who tell pollsters they trust small business more than almost any other institution. However, more businesses closed than opened last year. Read More

You should walk away from anyone who says there can be an “Uber for healthcare.” It is the equivalent of someone saying they “have a bridge to sell you.” Or, more precisely, it shows a complete lack of understanding for how healthcare works and how positive health outcomes are actually achieved. Read More

It was a balmy night in Rio de Janeiro and a pretty J.P. Morgan Private Wealth representative was buying drinks for newly paper-rich entrepreneurs. Nearby at the pool mingled investors who had flown in from New York, San Francisco, London and Berlin. The next morning, entrepreneurs presented their well-funded ideas to the participants of Founders Forum Brazil 2012. Few of those companies… Read More

There is no shortage of advice when it comes to which tools software companies should use to run their businesses. We’ve all come across numerous “Top 100 resources for startups”-type posts at least once as we Google our way to entrepreneurial success. But after reading just one of them, it’s not hard to go from “I have no idea what’s out there” to… Read More

In today’s tech-driven business world, the title “serial entrepreneur” is a coveted badge of honor. It’s easy to understand the appeal of the phrase. It suggests that someone is so full of groundbreaking ideas they can’t channel all of them into just one company. Instead, they choose to focus their genius on creating an array of world-changing, money-making… Read More

Latest Crunch Report

As someone who has worked in technology his entire adult life, I can say the following with complete conviction: Somewhere at this moment a young entrepreneur is developing a product, service or business model that will transform the way our world thinks, works, plays, communicates, dates, sleeps or wakes up the day after. He or she doesn’t live in the Valley and probably has no intention… Read More

There has been a huge disconnect between private and public company valuations over the last few years. This isn’t the first time I’ve said it. It probably won’t be the last. During this period of froth, companies were able to raise capital at increasingly ludicrous valuations, and entrepreneurs turned fundraising into a sport. Deals closed peaked in 2014, but all-time… Read More

Prompted by the ongoing refugee crisis affecting much of the western world, new initiatives have emerged to provide solutions to the many challenges facing the beleaguered masses. In a sea of clueless government bureaucrats and fearful citizens, these new startups want to tap into the potential of the newcomers. Privately funded initiatives may one day become the norm in helping tackle… Read More

I hear a lot of horror stories about investors. Many are misunderstandings. Some are just outright false. Then there are those that are true. Sadly, there are a lot of those. This kills companies. I’ve watched great entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas sink because they’ve been fucked around and because they made poor choices. I wanted to write something that will help people. Here… Read More

There’s an epidemic in Canada. That epidemic is a mentality that leaves top talent with no option but to leave the nation’s borders and with them, everything they learned. It undervalues breakthroughs developed and paid for by Canadian taxpayers. It’s a mindset that resents the success of others. It’s a bad case of tall poppy syndrome. Read More

Successfully taking an idea to market involves many more negotiations than most entrepreneurs realize. First, they must figure out whether to share credit with any partners or advisors who helped them along the way. Then, they need to determine who owns what, and who controls what, as they make their way through multiple rounds of investment. Read More

The cost of entry to the startup world has decreased dramatically in the last decade. We’re now at the point where the tools that were once only available to enterprise users have made their way into the hands of everyday users. Access to bleeding-edge innovation is no longer limited to an elite few. This transformation has been called the consumerization, or democratization, of tech. Read More

Universities in the U.S. are a wellspring of innovation, but they are almost certainly killing off some (really) good ideas too early. Investors should be paying more attention to how innovation is treated at the places it originates. Read More

To most entrepreneurs, the road to venture capital financing is littered with criticism and rejection. Ranging from “limited traction” to “that’s a hard space,” VCs have an entire vocabulary of terms to pass on investments — and can sometimes even forgo that vocabulary with the “soft no” by ghosting the founder. Read More

Headlines in 2015 have been particularly worrisome for global investors. Yet while we see listed businesses facing a whiplash effect from China, Greece and the Middle East, the news headlines about high-growth technology businesses seemingly couldn’t be more positive. From record-breaking funding rounds in the U.K. and the U.S. and the blossoming U.K. fintech market or the growth of… Read More

For many years, Israelis used to lament that the local tech scene, while considered second only to Silicon Valley and generating many successful startups, has never been able to grow a world tech leader such as Nokia. Why don’t we have our own “Nokia?” people used to ask — while pointing a finger at entrepreneurs and investors alike. Read More